Alrighty! I'm back, and I haven't died! Well this chapter just totally came to me after I got a thought for the beginning. Once I actually start a chapter, I just keep rolling. I guess what has me stuck is the beginning of these chapters, I can never get myself started apparently lol. So...without further ado, ENJOY!

R&R PLEASE!!

Chapter 13: Suspicions

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT THEY COULDN'T BE SEEN WITHOUT A MAGNIFYING GLASS?! SO SHORT THAT THEY COULD FIT INTO THE GROOVES IN THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SHOE?!"

"But…I didn't say anything like that…" Max whimpered behind Tyson. The puppy dog face he gave was just so adorable; no one could ever resist it. That is, everyone except Mia.

"It's too bad for you that Mariam and the others went back to their own countries. Especially Rick since he was one of the only guys who could keep me down. Now that the big guy and your girlfriend are gone they can't do anything to stop me from TURNING YOU INTO FISH!!!" Mia growled as she pounded her left fist into her right palm as if the metal pounding into flesh didn't hurt. But she had gotten used to it over the years that she couldn't quite feel the metal anymore.

"Fish? I think she's finally lost it…"

"That's it! I'M TURNING EVERY BLOODY PERSON IN THIS ENTIRE FREAKIN DOJO TO FISH!!!"

"Hey did someone say fish? I'm so hungry right now I could eat a million of them." Daryl said as he walked into the room with a grin plastered across his face. Once he glanced around the room at the situation: Max behind Tyson, Tyson trying to go back behind Max, Mia pounding her fist into her palm, and Ray and Hilary sweatdropping, he immediately knew what had happened. "Aw sis, why do you have to keep scaring everyone like this?"

He looked into the room as Daryl held Mia back from punching everyone because they had called her short. Normally, Kai would have found it amusing but he just frowned as he stared at Daryl. It wasn't so much as a glare that he was so famous for, it was more of a cross between a glare and a stare, almost as if he wasn't sure what to make of what he was looking at.

"Something wrong?"

Kai was snapped out of his thoughts as he looked over his left shoulder to see Hiro walking up to him with a worried expression on his face. He looked away from the older man, this time with a glare on his features.

"Kai?" Hiro asked. His face now showed a hint of confusion as he tilted his head to his left and kept his gaze on the crimson eyed teenager.

There was sigh coming out from Kai, it seemed that he did a lot of that these days. He put his hands into his pockets and started to walk away. But before Hiro was out of ear-shot, he heard Kai mumble something.

"Why doesn't anyone remember what happened during the funeral?" He asked himself, but Hiro was positive that Kai made sure he had heard it too. He looked into the room where everyone else was, and he chuckled after seeing his little brother get beaten up for the umpteenth time by Mia. Now that everyone else was gone, it was just the Bladebreakers with their three special guests.

Hiro stared into the room a bit longer until he finally reminded himself that eating was essential for survival. After all, who did everyone think Tyson got his eating habits from? Hiro was starving, and he would always be starving. That was the Granger family. The word Granger must be in the same sentence as food or else all hell would break loose.

But still, his mind kept going over Kai's words over and over again as the other half of his brain focused entirely on what food to eat and what not to eat. What had he meant by that? He couldn't remember anything that had happened during Daryl's funeral that held any significance. All they did was bury his body and give him their 'last blessings'. And that's when it finally hit him in the head. It was so obvious and done so frequently during funerals that he didn't think it would actually hold any sort of importance. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid…

It all made sense now. Why Kai had been acting so strange ever since Daryl appeared. His suspicions may have seemed strange to everyone else, but Hiro finally understood. Through all the relief and joy at seeing their friend come back from the dead, they had forgotten one major detail. But somehow, Kai managed to figure it out right away. Hiro definitely admired the teenager for that.

As everyone in the room calmed down from Mia's outburst, they were all sitting peacefully in the training room. Although Mia was still holding a grumpy attitude and glaring towards Max and Tyson who were still quivering in fear.

Daryl grinned in his spot on the floor, looking around him until he spotted Hiro outside the door. Hiro looked like he had just realized something and his face was quite pale. And once Hiro knew that Daryl had noticed his sudden behavior, he immediately walked away. That was weird…

"So Daryl, what have you been up to all this time away from us? Well, other than getting yourself healed that is." Hilary asked trying to start up a conversation without getting Mia riled up again.

"Huh? Oh…well…" He started. He looked up into the ceiling as his hand reached up to touch his chin in thought. But it almost looked as if he was thinking of something on the spot. "Well, not much really. I woke up in an empty house pretty much healed. But when I looked around the place there were shelves and shelves filled with books, mainly on Beyblading too. I learned how to enhance a bit beast's powers."

"Enhance?" Ray asked, now intrigued by the mention of making his Drigger stronger.

"Well yeah. There's a technique on how to enhance a bit beast's strength, endurance, speed, and ability. I guess it's kind of like a sort of evolution that would usually take a Beyblader and its Bit Beast years to develop, but using the method I learned, it could be achieved in just a few days." Daryl explained.

"That sounds very interesting. Does it do anything to the Bit Beast or Beyblade though?" Ray asked, now cautious as to what Daryl was proposing.

"Nope, not at all. If you want I could enhance all of your Blades. I mean, it's the least I can do after everything you've done for me. And don't worry, I did a lot of studying on it and I already tried it on Endymion earlier today. It turned out perfectly fine." As proof he even took out his Blade and showed it to everyone else. Sure enough, Endymion's appearance had altered and looked much stronger. And there weren't any casualties to the Blade either from what they could tell. "So, what do you guys say?"

Mia stared at her brother in awe. Ray, Max, and Tyson agreed while she was still, in a way, glaring at Daryl. They had left their Beyblades in the hands of Daryl, and only Mia and Daryl were left in the training room now.

"Daryl…" Mia said cautiously, eyeing her brother weirdly.

"Something wrong sis?" He asked innocently, although he knew what was coming. Mia was the perfect child and knew about this subject more than anyone.

"I know what actually happened Daryl. You couldn't have learned anything like that from any book in this entire world. The only way you could learn that method is if you saw-"

"I know." Daryl had cut her off in her accusation. "They don't really need to know about that do they? I mean, I was pretty much dead so I figured it made sense. I didn't cross it, but I was close enough to see…and to learn. Everything was there and I saw it. I almost grasped the entire thing in the palms of my hands, but I never got to see that last bit that everyone in this world desires to know. The answer…"

Weird. I thought that the only way to learn those methods were to actually cross it. Yet he never actually crossed, he was only close enough to death to see it, but never actually died. And if he did cross it, he wouldn't be here right now. This means that…I was wrong…

Daryl had taken Drigger, Draciel, and Dragoon and enhanced them perfectly fine within the next two days. Each Bit Beast looked as if it had morphed after they were enhanced, and they looked stronger and more powerful than ever.

"Alright, time to test this new baby out!" Tyson exclaimed as Max and Ray readied their Blades along with his. This was going to be a three-way fight, although Max and Ray had already made a secret allegiance to take out Tyson first.

"Ya ready guys?" After getting a nod and confident smirks from all three Bladers, Kenny started the countdown and they simultaneously launched their Blades.

But they never got to finish the battle because the Bit Beasts' power was so immense that the three of them couldn't quite control it. They were swept off their feet and landed several feet from where they had been knocked out, their Blades no longer spinning.

"That was incredible!" Kenny shouted as he typed vigorously on Dizzi. "Holy! The energy of each Blade was literally off the charts!"

"I think…I'm gonna…pass out…after…that one…" Dizzi complained as her circuits fried in the laptop.

"Uhh, you ok Diz?"

"Just…peachy…"

"That was some amazing power. It felt even more powerful than when I tried to use that Ultimate Blade before the BEGA tournament. That was incredible…" Tyson said baffled by the new power he held in his hands.

"So how did you guys like it?" Daryl asked as he grinned at everyone else. "I'll take that as an 'IT'S AWESOME!' from you guys." He smirked as he noticed everyone's expressions.

"Say…Daryl…you wouldn't mind doing the same for them too, huh?" Max asked as he pointed to Kai, Mia, and Kaya.

"I was hoping someone would ask that." Daryl said as his grin grew even wider.

Kai was still suspicious of what he was doing. Just like that he would be able to get a hold of Lohengrin, Endymion, Dranzer, and Oracle. He held onto Dranzer tightly, not wanting to let her go. But everyone was watching him, he couldn't just shout out his suspicions of Daryl in the open like that. Kai had to give up, and he placed Dranzer in the palm of Daryl's hand.

"Don't worry Kai. I'll make sure I take good care of her for you." Daryl said with a smile. A smile that seemed way too fake in Kai's opinion.

"Right…"

Another day passed, and Daryl was working hard at the enhancements. They were all itching to get their Blades back since they couldn't do much without them. First off, their daggers were nothing but pointy objects now without the Bit Beasts to make them so powerful.

Kai was still sulking about Daryl for some odd reason. No one knew why, but ever since Daryl had arrived at the front door Kai was becoming more and more angrier and frustrated, if that was possible. He sat on a wooden porch just outside the dojo and gazed into the small garden in the back. He held the ruby dagger in his hands as he aimed at one piece of bark on the tree. He threw the dagger and it hit the piece of bark right on the spot. He got up and pried the dagger out of the tree before he sat back down and aimed again. On the fifth time he was about to get up when someone else beat him to his dagger.

Mia pried the ruby dagger out of the tree and walked over to Kai who had sat back down and was leaning against one of the many pillars.

"Your aim's getting pretty good, Kai." Mia complimented as she handed the dagger back to its rightful owner.

"Yeah, whatever." He replied. Mia frowned at him at the reply she got. She knew that was the way he acted around everyone else, but she was expecting a 'Thanks' from him, of course with that he would have added some sarcastic remark. But it was a thank-you nonetheless. He was acting strange these days, especially around her.

"What's been bugging you lately?" She asked with concern obviously in her voice. He looked like he was about to answer her question, but then the Bladebreakers came out of the dojo, each had smiles on their faces. Kaya and Daryl had stayed behind probably to enjoy some time away from loud-mouth and louder-mouth; a.k.a. Max and Tyson.

"It's nothing. Just drop it." Kai said harshly. Although it did come out harsher than he wanted it to, he didn't say anything that was any form of an apology like he would usually say around Mia.

"Yeah right, I know there's something bugging you and I was just being concerned for a friend." Mia fought back. Everyone who had come outside stared at the two, now their smiles had dropped.

"Well thanks but no thanks." Kai retorted, this time his voice was cold and harsher than before.

"You know you can be such a jackass sometimes!" Mia shouted. Now the fight was just starting. "All I'm doing is worrying about you and yet you have to be so rude-"

"Well maybe I wouldn't have to be like this if you were a bit more observant!"

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that maybe you're not quite the perfect child that everyone was talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if they got the wrong girl!"

"Well excuse me for not being what everyone else wants! It's not my fault I was born in a box made of metal!"

"Dammit Mia! Why can't you just look at what's happening?! I know you would notice it before everyone else! But you're just too damn oblivious to what's happening around you because of him!!" Kai shouted as he pointed inside of the dojo. "He's blinding you Mia!"

"I get it now! You're jealous of my brother for whatever damn reason you have! Well you don't have to take it out on him!"

"I'm not taking it out on him dammit! You just need to open you eyes!"

"I'm not gonna let you accuse my brother of something that you're paranoid about!"

"Paranoid?!"

"Yes, paranoid! I don't get why the hell you're like this but just FUCK OFF!"

"Mia you're such an idiot! You're being completely blinded by him that you won't even realize something this obvious!"

"And what the hell would that be?!"

"ENOUGH!" Daryl shouted as he stormed out of the dojo with Kaya following closely behind him. "What's going on here?" He demanded as he glared daggers at Kai who was more than happy to glare back at him.

"Nothing." Mia and Kai both said in unison harshly.

"Well it looks like more than nothing to me. Is he giving you trouble?" He asked Mia as he rushed to her side.

"No, he's just being an ass-hole." And with that she stormed off back into the training room to get some good punches out.

"Leave my sister alone or there'll be hell to pay. Got that?" Daryl threatened menacingly.

"I'm shaking in my boots." Kai retorted with a voice dripped in sarcasm. He got up from his spot on the porch and walked off in the opposite direction of Mia and out into the streets to let out his anger on innocent by-standers who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I don't get what's got Kai." Max said.

"Don't worry about it Max. I'm sure he'll get around it sooner or later." Daryl reassured, this time with a smile on his face.

"I hope it's sooner than later…" Max responded.

"I'm gonna go check in on Mia, ok? See you guys at dinner!" Daryl announced as he ran back into the dojo to find his sister.

He finally found her punching the living daylights out of the poor punching bag. He remembered the perfect condition it was in before Mia got to it, and now it was a mess. The seams were all ripped and sand was pouring out of it as she hacked away at it.

"You alright sis?" He asked in a calming voice. Mia responded to her nickname only one person called her and she ceased her punching. She sighed and sat down cross-legged on the floor as she stared at her brother.

"I don't get it. How come he can be such an…idiot and yet be so…nice the next minute? It's like he's got multiple personalities or something." Mia complained, restraining herself from calling Kai an idiot instead of something she had mentioned earlier.

Daryl chucked softly as he headed towards Mia and sat down with her, giving her another reassuring smile that he had given Max just a few minutes prior.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll cool off his head and realize what he said and come back with as much of an apology Kai Hiwatari can muster up. Although I wouldn't be surprised if it was more along the lines of '…uhh…sorry…' and then walk off."

Mia laughed at Daryl's imitation of Kai which was perfectly done as a matter of fact.

"Thanks Daryl. You always knew how to cheer me up."

"Huh? Oh…right…yeah, no problem."

"What do you think you're looking at?" Kai asked harshly as he glared daggers at a little boy who was just wondering if the devil really existed.

He sighed and walked off, trying to find a place to cool his head off. He didn't really mean to get into a fight with Mia like that, but one thing just led to another. But he still wondered why no one else noticed it. He supposed it was probably because they were all so happy to see Daryl again that common sense just…left their brains concerning that matter. If that was true, then why wasn't he blinded by it too?

At first he actually was happy to see his friend again, and from what he had heard from Kaya, they were like best friends before the incident. He should've been happy, and he was, but he had realized it right after Mia hugged Daryl and cried into his arms. He had felt something at that moment, and that feeling made him search for his common sense and it was then that he had realized it. But what was that 'something' that he felt? Could it actually be jealousy that Kai had felt? It did sort of make some type of sense, but even if, hypothetically speaking of course, he was indeed jealous, then he was jealous of Mia's own brother. Now that just didn't make any sense at all.

But whatever that feeling was that caused him to search for his common sense, he was glad he had felt it. It was because of this feeling that Kai had seen the truth, and even though it had caused him and Mia to fight, he would be ready for Daryl. If it actually was Daryl. He had his suspicions about the teen and for good reason too.

During the funeral…

They had buried Daryl's dead body…

Author's Note:

So there you have it. Err, I'm not sure if you guys got that last part, and just in case you didn't...they buried Daryl's BODY. So how could somone bring back his body and heal him if he was already in a wooden coffin?

Well anyways, there were a few moments in this that'll lead to something important. And now that I've almost reached the climax, I think I'll be updating a little bit more frequently, but I don't think I can promise anything. Anywho, I'm always looking for more reviews you guys. I'm still a little edgy on how little reviews I have, but I guess it's nothing too big -sigh-. But to those that actually did review, I LOVE YOU GUYS!! So uhh...yeah, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try my best to get my next one on the way!

REVIEW PLEASE!!